Here you will find documents arguing for the effectiveness of – or giving detailed descriptions to practicing – various Disruptive tactics. If you wanted to know how to build a barricade, run a consciousness raising group, or sabotage a pipeline, this is the place for you.
All
Blockade/Barricade
Consciousness Raising
Evasion
Occupation
Sabotage/Ecotage
Self Institution
Strike
We’re Not Paying That
All
Pre-Modern
1700-1830s
1840-1945
1946-1989
1990-2010
2011-Present
The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House (1984)
In 1984, In 1985, feminist, civil rights activist, and librarian Audre Lorde published “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House”. The essay argued for the dismantling of the current system, alluding to…
Direct Action! 101: A Primer – El Lobo Solo (n.d.)
This undated, pseudonymous piece describes how Earth First! employs direct action methods such as civil disobedience and social arrest against those harming the earth. The article teaches how to effectively carry out dem…
Sproul Hall Sit-In Address – Mario Savio (1964)
On December 2, 1964, Mario Savio, an activist and key member of the Berkeley Free Speech Movement, gave an address on University of California, Berkely’s campus at the Sproul Hall sit-in. Many students, including Savio…
The People’s Detox (Film) – Jenna Bliss (2018)
n November 1970, Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx was collectively occupied by local heroin addicts, revolutionary health organizations, the Young Lords, and the Black Panther Party. In her 2018 film The People’s D…
Scouting Manual For Activists – The Ruckus Society (2016)
A basic overview of scouting techniques including cover stories, useful equipment, and what to look out for when planning everything from a blockade to a banner drop.
Processed World Magazine by Chris Carlsson, Adam Cornford, Greg Williamson (1981-2005)
Processed World Magazine was established to foster unity among office workers, temps and any creatives who were being alienated by the processed world of the workplace
Outlaws of Amerika – Vietnam War
The Weather Underground group discusses the bombing at Harvard’s Center for International Affairs in October 1970 in this communique
Women’s Collective Action Limitations (Tilly, 1981)
Louise A. Tilly’s ” Paths of Proletarianization: organization of Production, Sexual Division of Labor, and Women’s Collective Action”, was published in 1981 as a study of working-class women’s role in industrializing Fra…
Maine Earth First! Disrupts State’s Approval of Plum Creek Development Plan – Maine EF! (2010)
This article, published by Maine Earth First! details the occupation of the Land Use Regulatory Commission’s meeting in Bangor, Maine in opposition to the agency’s approval of Plum Creek’s proposal to develop in the…
We Want to Riot, Not to Work – The Brixton Uprisings (1982)
A pamphlet giving the day by day account of the 1981 Brixton Uprisings, race tension/solidarity, and theoretical reflections on the rise of the “Impossible Class”
A Recipe for Nocturnal Direct Actions! – MTL Counter-Info (2017)
Step-by-Step guide for covering your tracks including scouting, prep, CCTV evasion, DNA Forensics, and arrest.
Tecumseh Calls for Pan-Indian Resistance (1810)
In this document, Tecumseh, a Shawnee chief and warrior, details a message of both resistance and spirituality. He writes to a community larger than just the Shawnee, calling on all the “red men” to unite and to recl…
Treesitter’s Journal Entry (2000)
A journal entry written by an anonymous treesitter discusses issues of privilege and oppression, and how these issues relate to direct action campaigns to protect the forests.
One Big Union – Industrial Workers of the World (2000)
This document, written in 2000 by the Industrial Workers of the World, outlines the organization of workers and the working class. It includes a brief historical discussion, advantages of one union and organization, unio…
Communique From an Absent Future – Research and Destroy (2009)
This pamphlet critiques the modern university system, claiming that it has become a tool of capitalism designed to produce obedient workers rather than encourage independent thought or true education. The authors reject…
The Enemy Within (1970)
This document was written by Susan Brownmiller in 1970. She discusses the ways in which women have internalized sexism and patriarchal expectations – for themselves and for other women. She explores this partly through h…
A Demonstrator’s Guide to Lockdowns and Blockades – CrimethInc. (2025)
This guide from CrimethInc. describes a range of resistance and disruption tactics, from using lockboxes to physically block spaces and movement to constructing barricades with materials like junk cars, wood, and metal.…
Women’s Day Off ( Iceland, 1975)
The Women’s Day Off on October 24, 1975 was a monumental moment in Icelandic (women’s) history. The collective argument was that the women did work. paid and unpaid, but invisible from the infrastructure that held Icel…
Occupy Oakland: The Port Shutdown – Jack Gerson (2012)
Gerson discusses the transition of Occupy Movement from occupation of Public Squares to Port Blockades and the disruption of global commodity circulation.
10 Steps for Setting Up a Blockade – (2018)
First off, understand that you CAN do this. For the last 18 months groups as small as 8 have been disrupting and occupying pipeline construction sites all over Turtle Island. It takes even fewer than that to accomplish m…Related Posts:
Disruptnow.org
Disruptnow.org is about thinking and practicing social struggle as disruption. It contains material from past and present struggles that sought liberation not through the movement…